I've got some old Ford wheels that I'm trying to resurrect. At some point in their life they've met a curb or three. I've tried whackin the rim gently with a ball pein, but all I end up with are flat spots. What do you suppose I'm doing wrong? Do I need to make a wooden hammer-form? Thanks for any help.
Call around to teh older alignment shops. You may find one that can straighten wheels. We have one here that does a great job.
Tire shops have a bar with a flat to fit the wheel. Bending works. Slide the bar with flat welded to it onto the rim and bend. Might find a picture onlie ??
There is a special tool that the stock car guys use. It has some curly cuts on the ends that you slip over the edge of the rim and it hooks on as you pull. Kinda looks like a big wrench. You might want to check some place like Speedway for one. I'd guess they aren't more than $15-$20.
I did some Intarweb searching and found the circle-track type "rim wrench". I think it was $20 plus shipping from the auction site. But for 20 bones I think I can take the farrier's rasp to a 2x6 to make a hammer form, and then beat on it with either the ball pein or the brass hammer. Then I can use the money to buy some paint. Thanks for the suggestions. I still haven't finished all of the de-rusting, and some of these might be too pitted to save.
The "rim wrench" is fine for straightening the wheel flange, but if it has been tweaked very hard ,such as a curb hit,you probably have lateral runout or "wobble".The shop I used to work at had 2 SPEEDWAY(not Speedway mtrs.)wheel straightening presses with a bunch of different dies to fit different shaped rim flanges.We used to straighten a lot of wheels for body shops and insurance companies.This was before every car had alloy wheels.
IF it is just the outer flange, a large cresent wrench works great. Dial it down to the flange thickness and pull back.
I used a big ole hammer and a brass drift punch on one bent cragar I had, came out pretty nice. the brass was soft enough to bear the brunt of the force but strong enough to slowly bend wheel back.
Contact Stockton Wheel and talk to Ray , They can do the impossable. Need a e-mail address, contact me, I have it or just go to Stockton wheel on line.
a big ass crescent wrench. Works like a champ if your just straightening up the lip near the bead. If it's bent at the hub....that's another story.
Thanks for the tips. Since I'm so "cheap", I'll try the crescent wrench. If the tool police don't mind.
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